Thread by @rachaelvenables

5,279 Children were Strip Searched by the Met Police in London in the past three years (that's five every single day.)

THREE QUARTERS of them were from ethnically diverse backgrounds

Just under half were black

Only 22% were white 🧵
lbc.co.uk/news/three-qua…

The Met's already under pressure over its use of the tactic, after a damning report found racism was a factor in a 15-year-old girl, "Child Q", being strip searched while on her period at her school in Hackney, without an appropriate adult in the room.

Shadow Policing Minister @LabourSJ says strip search on children should only be used in 'exceptional' circumstances when lives are at risk.

As for the racial disparities, she calls that "wrong, on a basic human rights equality front."

For this story I’ve heard from teens at the @4FrontProject in North London who were strip searched as children:

“Degraded”

“Humiliated”

“I felt like dirt to be honest, like they were stepping all over me.”

60% of their members have been strip searched more than once

@TemiMwale is Director of the 4Front Youth Empowerment Project. She believes strip searches should be banned on children.

"Black children are not given the same chance of childhood, protection, care and safety."

In a statement, the Met Police make it clear that there are times when they need to strip search "to prevent harm to children."

The figures I've uncovered show 5,279 children were strip searched AFTER an arrest in London in 3 yrs.

But you don't have to have been arrested to be strip searched - #ChildQ wasn't. So she wouldn't even show up on these figures.

The real numbers will be even higher...

Oh, and for those questioning the maths. Recent ONS data found white people make up 58% of the population in London.

Yet white children were just 22% of the Met Police strip searches.